the room, searching for my security detail. The agent was standing near the door, his finger pressed to his ear as he spoke softly into his unseen mic. He was the only black-clad figure there—apparently I was the only Vital in the lecture today.
Without even meaning to, I reminded myself of the exits. The closest was the one next to my security detail. Two emergency exits were on either wall at the bottom of the room, and I was pretty sure the office behind the professor’s lectern had another door leading to a corridor on the other side of the building.
The professor gave up trying to wrangle the crowd and demanded to know what was happening. One of the students in the front row got up and showed her his phone. The professor frowned.
“Surely this is a hoax,” said a boy a few rows down.
“How is this possible?” a girl sitting near me asked no one in particular.
“I have to call my mom.” A young boy, no more than sixteen, haphazardly gathered his things and rushed out of the room. Others followed, the theater erupting into disorder, the lecture forgotten.
I packed my books and stood just as the crowd parted. Alec came down the few stairs to stand at the end of my row. He was in uniform, a gun strapped to his hip, his tattoos almost completely covered by the long sleeves.
I swung my bag over my shoulder and took his hand. “What’s happening?”
“Not here,” he growled over his shoulder as he pulled me along.
When we exited the lecture theater, my other bodyguard fell in behind us. Alec marched us across campus, glaring at anyone who got too close. Several other people were rushing in various directions too, while some just stood around talking animatedly or looking at their phones.
I was dying to know what the hell was happening, but clearly it was serious, so I kept my mouth shut.
We jogged up the stairs to the admin building and marched straight past the reception desk, Alec’s boots thudding on the polished concrete floor as I struggled to keep up. The receptionists barely spared us a glance. At the elevators, Alec ordered the other Melior Group agent to stay there, and we headed up to Tyler’s office.
Once inside, Alec finally dropped my hand.
“. . . you understand? Stand down.” Tyler was on the phone, every muscle in his body stiff. “We can’t risk turning this into an international incident. We’ll just have to deal with it as best we can quietly.” He was silent for a few moments. “Good. Report as soon as you have something.” Then, without saying goodbye, he hung up.
“Guys, I’m starting to freak out here.” I found myself shifting closer to Alec, pressing myself into his side.
Alec wrapped one arm around my shoulders as Tyler sighed and leaned on his desk. He picked up the remote, pointed it at the TVs on the wall behind me, and turned up the volume.
Staring back at me from the screen, a charismatic smile pinned to his face, was Davis Damari—my so-called father and the reason for everything that had ever gone wrong in my life. I stiffened, the blood rushing to my ears making it hard to hear. Alec squeezed my shoulder.
Davis was giving some kind of speech in front of a crowd. Cameras and microphones were everywhere.
“This is, we believe, one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in modern history. Not only can we now isolate Variant abilities, we have developed technology that enables us to give Variants without abilities the gift of an ability.”
The news program cut to a reporter summarizing the situation. Apparently Davis had given an impressive speech only an hour ago. My eyes flicked around the other three screens. Each one was covering the news; each one had his ugly face plastered all over it.
Tyler stepped around his desk and planted himself at my other side. But even Alec’s and Tyler’s comforting arms around my shoulders and waist couldn’t stop me from feeling as if the world was crumbling around me.
“What the fuck is happening?” I muttered to myself. No one answered.
After the incident in Thailand, Davis, his core group of scientists, and some of his more fanatical Variant Valor supporters had completely disappeared. Melior Group had worked tirelessly to find him, but Davis was rich and well connected. He had friends in high places everywhere to keep him safe.
I’d had several arguments with Tyler over why it wasn’t all over the news that Davis